Re-introduction Crested ibis in Korea

A few days ago, KBS news reports said six of the 40 ibis to wild in May last year were dead, some of which were eaten by wild predators. most of the Survived ibis are healthy and staying in the near of the Upo Wetland, the place that they were released. but a handful of them are moving faraway, to the another province.

And that news report said the Ibis restoration center in Changnyeong County is very nervous because this winter is the first winter for the ibis to greet in the wild. Of course, I hope too they will this winter well and increase in numbers.
 
dt644 said:
A few days ago, KBS news reports said six of the 40 ibis to wild in May last year were dead, some of which were eaten by wild predators. most of the Survived ibis are healthy and staying in the near of the Upo Wetland, the place that they were released. but a handful of them are moving faraway, to the another province.

And that news report said the Ibis restoration center in Changnyeong County is very nervous because this winter is the first winter for the ibis to greet in the wild. Of course, I hope too they will this winter well and increase in numbers.
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How about historical patterns? Migratory or sedentary colonies?
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
How about historical patterns? Migratory or sedentary colonies?
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I think today released Crested ibis are sedentary. Some of them moved far, but all of them are still in the southern province of the Korean Peninsula.

Once upon a time, crested ibis that lived in Korea was winter migratory birds. They were spend the winter in the Korean Peninsula, and then in spring, they moved to Ussuri river. But released ibis are not know about that, and seem to want to just stay where there is plenty of food and good to stay.

When first released ibis in May last year, there was a conflict between the two opinions: "They will fly to China and Japan, because they are migratory birds that didn't reproduced in Korea" and "Now that they don't know how to move, so they will stay in Korea." Look about now situation, the latter seems to have won.
 
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dt644 said:
I think today released Crested ibis are sedentary. Some of them moved far, but all of them are still in the southern province of the Korean Peninsula.

Once upon a time, crested ibis that lived in Korea was winter migratory birds. They were spend the winter in the Korean Peninsula, and then in spring, they moved to Ussuri river. But released ibis are not know about that, and seem to want to just stay where there is plenty of food and good to stay.

When first released ibis in May last year, there was a conflict between the two opinions: "They will fly to China and Japan, because they are migratory birds that didn't reproduced in Korea" and "Now that they don't know how to move, so they will stay in Korea." Look about now situation, the latter seems to have won.
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Thanks for sharing this info!

BTW: there are techniques to create migratory flocks (NAm and EUr have projects for teaching ibis and cranes a.o.)!
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Thanks for sharing this info!

BTW: there are techniques to create migratory flocks (NAm and EUr have projects for teaching ibis and cranes a.o.)!
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As further information, some people say it is because of Korean magpies that Crested ibis didn't reproduced in Korea.

Professor Siryong Park, a expert of Oriental stork said in 2008, crested ibis that has gray-colored breeding season feather was discovered in Korea in May 1886, and in the 1900s, the ibis were seen trying to reproduce, such as building nests in Korea, but failed.

He also said, because their curved beak was a difficult structure to defend against other birds and they built their nests not strong enough, so they failed to beat the attack of the Korean magpies, a common bird on the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, he was skeptical about restoring the Crested ibis to sedentary bird of Korea.

So it is not clear whether released ibis can able to reproduce in the wild of Korea, but I hope they will be able to reproduce in the wild.
 
Not good news. A few days ago, South Korea's Internet news said 13 of the 40 released ibis have died so far, bringing the survival rate to around 67.5 percent. This is said to be similar to the survival rate when the Chinese released ibis, but is at a critical juncture as winter still remains.

For survived ibis, researchers supply 20 kilograms of loach daily in artificial wetlands where water is not frozen. but that news also said ibis are being pushed away by other birds such as herons.

Changnyeong County, where the Crested Ibis Restoration Center is located, is said to be planning to release about 40 additional ibis between March and April this year. Changnyeong County believes need about 3,000 wild ibis to ibis escape the danger of extinction. I hope that this experience will increase the survival rate of the new release ibis.
 
vogelcommando said:
The wild population in China is doing great ( more then 3300 birds :) ) :

Over 3,300 crested ibises now in Shaanxi Province
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Dear vogelcommando, whereas undoubtedly very encouraging news and probably a signal that the crested ibis may be downgraded on the Red List, it sits in the wrong thread (crested ibis in Korea - which is as yet trying to establish itself and this will take a significant amount of time).
 
I wonder how far the reintroduction program has come along since February 2020 when it was reported 13 out of 40 released crested ibis had not survived. Even so that is an over 66% survival rate on the first year.

As per the original newspaper reports 363 crested ibis resided in the breeding center in South Korea. Link: [Newsmaker] Crested ibises return to wild in S. Korea 40 years after going extinct

Any further releases planned this year?
(BTW: I always have been convinced reintroduction is a numbers game - the more released the quicker and better the recovery when well planned and executed) and duration long haul program).
 
On May 28, Changnyeong County released a total of 40 ibises, with 27 males and 13 females. News reports a few days ago said 38 of them were staying in Changnyeong County, while two moved to Hapcheon County, 10 kilometers away.

27 of the 40 ibises that were released last year survived, two of them were rescued and treating, and most of the dead 13 ibises died in the attack of leopard cats. The ibis restoration center's initial target survival rate was 30 percent, but in reality, the restoration project seems to be somewhat successful as it has more than doubled.

Currently, there are 417 crested ibises in Korea. this ibises origin were one female and three males, so I think we should worry about the incest.
 
Hello @dt644, thanks for the update on this year's releases.

Do you know why the released more male than female birds? Do we know the sex of the 27 surviving released birds from 2019?

The number of captive birds in 2019 was 363, so captive reproduction wise the increase on year was 94 (increase 125.89%) in total numbers. The released population in Upo Wetlands now should number 67. Agreed that a survival of 66%+ is indicative that survivability and the reintroduction process in general is developing satisfactorily.

Re inbreeding: Remember the number of crested ibis at the outset of being rediscovered was only 7 birds and it would be correct to assume the birds were somewhat related even then. I would expect that with this number of birds in the captive and wild flocks (more than 5,000 in China, Japan and South Korea) that any genetic defects have been weeded out already.
 
Kifaru Bwana said:
Hello @dt644, thanks for the update on this year's releases.

Do you know why the released more male than female birds? Do we know the sex of the 27 surviving released birds from 2019?

The number of captive birds in 2019 was 363, so captive reproduction wise the increase on year was 94 (increase 125.89%) in total numbers. The released population in Upo Wetlands now should number 67. Agreed that a survival of 66%+ is indicative that survivability and the reintroduction process in general is developing satisfactorily.

Re inbreeding: Remember the number of crested ibis at the outset of being rediscovered was only 7 birds and it would be correct to assume the birds were somewhat related even then. I would expect that with this number of birds in the captive and wild flocks (more than 5,000 in China, Japan and South Korea) that any genetic defects have been weeded out already.
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According to news reports, female ibis is more sensitive than male ibis, so there is a risk of an unexpected occurrence, so the ratio of females to males is set at 1:2.

That news report said two female crested ibises released in Japan traveled 300 km from the Sado island to Honshu, and also explained if the ibises move away from Upo wetland, the survival rate is get lower, so the center release more males than females. Changnyeong County said if the number of ibises released increases, the male and female ratio will be readjusted and released for ibises's smooth mating.

It is also said that the ratio of over 2 years old to those under 2 years old is set at 3:1. The older ibises are sensitive, responding well to enemy danger, but release younger ones together because they lack environmental adaptability and ability to recognize for food.

I don't know the ratio of male and female ibises that were released and survived last year. But news report said some of them built nests and tried to reproduce, even though they gave birth to an unfertilized egg.
 
By reading all those reports about the numbers living in the wild and in the breeding-centres I'm really pleased because I myself made a ( small ) contribution to this :) !
At the end of the 1980s - after the few wild birds were re-discovered in China - a small group of Chinese scientists and animalkeepers from the Bejings breeding-center of the zoo ( then still Peking ) came to Weltvogelpark Walsrode ( Germany ) because here large numbers of several ibis-species were bred and raised each year.
Goal was to teach the Chinese how to keep, breed and hand-raise ibisses and because I was taking care for the hand-raising station at Walsrode, I had to do quite a lot with the Chinese deligation and if I now see the numbers of ibisses I think my colleguas and I explained everything quite well ;) !
 
According to an article published late last year, the survival rate of ibis in 2019 was 72.5%(Include Injured ibis), and in 2020 was 77.5%, so the reintroduced total 80 ibis's average survival rate of two years were about 75%.

In the same news said, the survival rate of reintroduced Ibis in sado island, Japan were the first year was 61% and the second year was 55%. So it can think the survival rate of the ibis in Korea are relatively high, but Dr. Kim sung-jin, the official of ibis reintroducing project said it is difficult to grasp the performance simply by having a high survival rate because the sado island was a better environment for ibis to live in.

Released ibis are living in Changnyeong County, moving to nearly towns, such as Hapcheon, Uiryeong, Miryang, and Changwon, and then returning to Changnyeong County. 13 to 14 are staying near the restoration center, and two are said to have been rescued with a broken wing.

The farthest moved ibis traveled more than 300km in a straight line to Yeongwol, Gangwon province, but the ibis released in 2019 are more cases where tracking is not possible as the battery of the location tracker runs out.

Changnyeong county is aiming for the success of the ibis breeding in the wild this year, but the current epidemic of bird flu in Korea poses a threat to the Ibis.
 
vogelcommando said:
A little old news from earlier this year but even so : Great news ! First chicks hatched in the wild in Korea :

Crested ibises born in wild 42 years after functional extinction in Korea
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Thank you for the good news. Obviously, it's great news, but it's not well reported in the Korean media, so even I, a Korean, didn't know.

On this October 14, Changnyeong county released an additional 40 ibis. Changnyeong county have always released it in May, but this time they released in October, they explained that it was because they referred to the fact that original wild ibis was winter migratory birds in Korea, and the observation, that released ibis died most in the summer.

Of the released 40 ibis, 24 were females, this time more females than males. In the meantime, Changnyeong county released males more than female because males were adapted to the wild better than female, but this time they have released more females for reproducing.

So far, there have been 120 ibis released by Changnyeong county, of which 31 have died. And starting this year, Changnyeong county will be release ibis twice a year to make it easier to reproduce in the wild.

According to media reports, ibis was also observed in Jinju city, where I live. I hope to see ibis often in my hometown.
 
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